Paisley Pattern designs

Using the Paisley motif outline, I have created new random repeat designs. The colourful image below is enhanced with a transparent and black relief medium. The canvas was painted black before the shapes were added.

The iconic motif called the Boteh, originated in Ancient Persia and is thousands of years old.

This section of a 1860s, woven, silk and wool Paisley shawl, shows several ‘teardrop’ shapes. This gives a fluidity within the overall design.

Relief pens used are the colours black and a transparent, giving a textured surface to the random pattern. The patterns are are drawn with black permanent ink pens and coloured with acrylic pens.

A design in progress. Highlighted with gold coloured paint and a black relief texture.

The oval image above, depicts detail from an original 1860s Paisley shawl. The picture illustrates clearly the ‘teardrop’ pattern, woven into the design.

Once the ‘teardrop’ motif was outlined, the space inside was filled with patterns, shapes, textures, colours and lines to create an individual interpretation .

Below, a blue and green artwork with cool colour choices and purple linear patterns used in the background.

This motif was pressed in clay from a wooden Indian printing block design. When the clay dries, the pressed pattern can be painted.

This timeless iconic motif continues to be widely seen on both dress and furnishing fabrics.

Glasgow Tile Collage Work

This new collage has been created using several tenement common close designs. Most of the tiles were photographed in the south side of Glasgow and are often repeated in several building locations.

The tiles chosen for this collage are in shades of green and pink. The designs are typical of the late 19th and early 20th century. With an Art Nouveau

Sea Pottery Collage Work: West Coast Meets East Coast.

 

A selection of collage work is currently being displayed and is for sale in the Seagull Gallery, Gourock.
The layered panels are inspired by the designs on seashore pottery fragments found by myself and collected. The pieces are from Loch Fyne shores in Argyll, Lower Largo beach and Leven Beach, Fife.
The artwork is painted on Indian hand produced Khadi paper, made from recycled cotton rags then mounted onto a square primed black canvas.
I have used watercolours, aquarelle pencils, acrylic paints and paint pens along with Rotring drawing ink pens to develop the designs and the colours have evolved from the patterned colours on the pottery pieces. The pottery selected is mostly Victorian and Edwardian pieces.

Ceramic paint adds shine, texture and layer to each collage.
The collages have their own unique titles reflecting the mood of the completed work.

The collages are priced at £55  with a larger collage  £75. For a small additional cost they can be framed with or without glass.

A selection of the collages on display and for sale in the gallery.  

 

                                             Victorian Brown                                                                                   Distinctive, detailed Victorian pottery section of design from the shores near Inverary. This piece of pottery has been transfer printed.

 

                                                      Grey Mist.                                                                                                     Another section of sea pottery found on the shore near Inverary. This probably cane from a large dinner plate.

 

Blue Breeze

                                                         Sea Green.                                                                                                        Several small pieces green stoneware and plate pottery in hard to find green.

                                                            Sea Blossom.                                                                                          A plate fragment at least 120 years old is the inspiration for this collage design.

 

                                                      Blue Horizon.                                                                            Found while walking on the stone and pebble shore near Inverary on the shores of Loch Fyne.

 

                                                           Below is a selection of the pottery fragments I collected from on Scotland’s shores. 

 

 

Paisley Pattern Sketches.

Working with acrylic paint pens, I am drawing a series of small paisley pattern inspired sketches. The whole images measure 14cm x 10cm approx.

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Luminate Festival Workshop 2019 at The Gallery of Modern Art.

This event was hosted by Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art. The workshop coincided with the exhibition “Mark-making: Perspectives on Drawing, which showcased the work of 6 contemporary artists who place drawing as central to their practice.
I led and accompanied the workshop group to the exhibition and gave a short talk on the artists work, highlighting the ways in which the artists had interpreted their own definitions of drawing.
We then headed to the studio in the gallery for a hands on, practical, experimental, mixed media workshop where the participants were able to interpret drawing in a variety of ways.

This workshop was well attended with about 15 participants who spent a couple of hours enjoying being creative and trying out their own drawing ideas.

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  Luminate Festival Brochure

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  print and pastels

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  drawing from natural form

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  Line and pattern with charcoal

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  Rubbing and smudging with charcoal

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  Paper folding for thumbnail drawings

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  Charcoal, pencil and pen sketching

The Arlington Baths Club Members Fundraising Art Exhibition 2019

The Arlington Baths have several talented artist members. In previous years the club had held two group fundraising exhibitions which were held in the Reading Room and successfully raised money for the club’s restoration project.
I submitted a proposal to the General Manager and the Arlington Board Chairman to curate, hang, manage and organise an exhibition with the aim of providing a showcase for members and as a fundraising event.
This was discussed and agreed upon. The exhibition opened in early November and ran for two weeks. It included the work of 30 artist members and invited guest artists.

 

The poster advertising the exhibition shows the fabulous original Minton tiles which are on the floor of the Turkish Suite.

This image reflects the exhibition from the glass ceiling in the Reading Room.

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Guest artists with a particular interest in swimming were invited to donate a piece of work. We were delighted with the generosity of artists Lesley Banks, Adrian McMurchie, Lynn Howarth, Christine Shaw and Melanie O’Donnell who sold work, helping to boost the fundraising amount.
Pictured above are also works by member artists Lauren Fox, Sheena McGregor and Deedle Design.

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Four generations of a family were represented at the exhibition. They were all students at Glasgow School of Art and members of the Arlington Baths Club.
The daughter of member Nanzie McLeod, donated some of her family’s paintings and drawings with proceeds going towards the restoration fund. Sarah McLeod, an artist herself was delighted to have her families work represented in this way.
In 1986, Nanzie McLeod from her book “Tales Of The Arlington ” described how she felt about swimming.
“I love swimming. I really feel it is a physical and emotional necessity for me, and you meet such friendly people.”

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The donation to the club exceeded £2k which was a terrific amount and fantastic effort by all those who supported the show.

It is planned to have another club fundraising exhibition in November 2021. I’m looking forward to it!

Paisley Art Institute Annual Exhibition 2019

As a new artist member of the PAI I was excited and looking forward to exhibiting 5 selected pieces of artwork in the annual exhibition. This was to be my first time exhibiting with the PAI in the pop-up show at The Piazza, Central Way, Paisley.
Almost 500 pieces of art work were on display covering an eclectic variety of work in various mediums including, drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, collage and prints.
The PAI annually exhibit at Paisley Art Gallery and Museum. However due to a major refurbishment, the gallery is closed for two years. A new venue had to be found for this important event in the PAI calendar.
The bright and spacious central location in The Piazza boasted visitors by the thousand during the several weeks of the exhibition, with a pleasing amount of sales.
I was delighted to be presented with The White Cart Award for my painting inspired by the timeless and iconic Paisley pattern. Called ‘Prospect’ the painting sold on the opening night of the exhibition.

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  The winning panel called ‘Prosper’which sold very quickly on the opening night of the exhibition.

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  Two other colourways were created.

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  I have produced smaller paintings embracing the Paisley motif.

The Annual Schools Art Competition 2019

I had the privilege and pleasure of judging and presenting the prizes for the 2019 children’s art competition at Kelvingrove along with fellow judge, Libby Walker.
We spent a full day looking at some incredibly good pieces of artwork consisting of drawings and paintings all done in situation at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, The Museum of Religion and GoMA. There were over 1,000 entries to look at and judge for awards. A challenging task given the high standard of work.
The competition, with entries from Central Scotland and Glasgow, attracts a wide range of work every year from nursery, primary and secondary pupils as well as individual entries.
It was especially meaningful and exciting for me because I was awarded a silver medal a long time ago, when I was a secondary pupil taking part in the same competition with my painting of purple hydrangeas. I remember it well…and I still have the silver medal and invitations to the awards ceremony.
The pupils were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals, highly commended and commended certificates for their efforts and an invitation to the buffet and presentation at the award ceremony which was well attended by pupils, parents and teachers on one very special evening in September.
Prizes were donated to the event by Friends of Glasgow Museums, much appreciated supporters of the competition.

Some of the competition entries the S1-6 category

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  The wonderful Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

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  The awards ceremony in the foyer of Kelvingrove.

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  Both Libby and I had an easel each with an example of our own work displayed.

‘Step Up To The Plate’ Charity Fundraising Event for CHAS Children’s Charity

I was invited to take part, along with 40 artists, in this fundraising event in October, which raised a massive £9k on the evening of the auction sale. The event was organised by Barbara Bates, director of Cafe Ceramico. Plate donations were designed by artists including Ross Muir, Adrian McMurchie, June Carey, Hazil Nagi and Celie Byrne with celebrities including Susan Calman, Phil Jupitus and Buzzcocks drummer John Maher.

 
I was asked to create a design in any way I wished on a blank earthenware plate.
My plate is called ‘East Coast Meets West Coast’ and raised £180 for the charity.

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  Beach pottery from Arran

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  Beach pottery from Lower Largo

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  East meets west…

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  ‘Stepping Up To The Plate.’ The completed work.

I used a selection of mediums on this piece. Acrylic pens, transparent outliner, gold, bronze and black relief outliners and the precious fragments of beach pottery.

Kaleidoscopic Painting

Another painting on black. New design. Different colourway.

Based on a hexagon shape.

The design became more detailed

The colours used.